Maryam Rajavi urges U.S., EU and UN to take serious practical steps to guarantee Camp Liberty’s protection
The President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, paid homage to the three distinguished and veteran cadres of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), Mohammad Javad Saleh Tehrani, Mahmoud Bornafar and Abbas Namvar, slain during the attack on Camp Liberty Thursday night and expressed hope for the recovery of 71 residents injured during the “Christmas massacre” at Liberty.
Commenting on the fourth missile attack on Camp Liberty in 2013, Mrs. Rajavi said: This terrorist missile attack was [Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri] al-Maliki’s souvenir to residents of Liberty following his visit to Tehran and a deliberate act of crisis-mongering to overshadow the hostage-taking and the great and heinous crime against humanity at Camp Ashraf on September 1, which aroused international condemnation, prompted a 108-day hunger strike and trapped Maliki’s National Security Advisor in the Spanish Court.
She added that this attack was another down payment Maliki wanted to pay to the clerical regime in Iran to support his third term as Prime Minister. It also reflected [the Iranian Supreme Leader Ali] Khamenei’s desperate attempts to confront the crisis of overthrow facing the crisis-riddled and vulnerable theocracy. Khamenei is trying to salvage the regime through the massacre of the PMOI members, especially after giving in to the nuclear accord.
Mrs. Rajavi emphasized that had the United States and the United Nations not violated their repeated and written commitments concerning the security and safety of the Mojahedin in Ashraf and Liberty and had they not chosen inaction vis-à-vis the September 1 execution-style massacre and hostage-taking at Camp Ashraf, Maliki would never have dared to perpetrate such heinous crimes. This is particularly the case because the U.S. government, the European Union and the UN were informed of the efforts by the rulers in Baghdad and Tehran in setting the stage for such an attack. The Iranian Resistance had repeatedly warned them about these regimes’ intention of massacring the residents of Liberty.
In conferences on December 4 at the European Parliament, on December 7 in Paris and on December 18 in Rome, Mrs. Rajavi had warned that “the US Government and the UN would be fully responsible for whatever that would happen to the Mojahedin at Liberty.”
Mrs. Rajavi urged the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and the Security Council to take serious practical steps to guarantee the security of the residents at Liberty killing field and added that the only practical and definitive action that would prevent further crimes at Liberty and the massacre of the Iranian refugees was their prompt transfer to a temporary location in the U.S., even on a temporary basis.
She particularly asked the United States, which had committed itself repeatedly to the safety and security of the residents, to refer the issue of Liberty’s protection to the UN Security Council and undertake appropriate measure to compel the Iraqi government to abide by its international obligations regarding the security and protection of Liberty residents and to uphold international humanitarian standards in its treatment of the residents, until the transfer of all residents to the U.S. or other countries.
Mrs. Rajavi stressed that the Security Council must take up the issue of a comprehensive and independent international investigation into the September 1, 2013 massacre at Camp Ashraf and ensure that such a probe would not conclude like the previous bogus investigations into the massacres at Ashraf and Liberty.
Regarding the safety and security of the residents of Liberty, Mrs. Rajavi emphatically called on the U.S. Government, the EU leaders, the UN Security Council, the UN Secretary General and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to obligate the Iraqi government to accept the minimum security requirements at Liberty, in particular the return of 17,500 T-walls and sufficient number of concrete bunkers, as well as the transfer of protective helmets, vests and the medical equipment from Ashraf, and permission to the residents to engage in construction, including building double layer roofs for the trailers and expanding the area of the Liberty, in order to decrease the level of the Camp’s vulnerability.
She noted that had these minimum requirements, raised repeatedly after the first missile attack on Liberty in February 2013 with the U.S., Iraqi and UN officials, been fulfilled, the number of casualties at Liberty would have been much lower.
So far 36 points of missile impact have been identified at Camp Liberty, which has an area of 0.5km2. Four 107mm missiles have not exploded with the ever-present danger of detonation. A number of the missiles are 280mm surface-to-surface missiles, whose destructive power is 20 times greater than the 107mm rockets. Three of eight such missiles hit Liberty and the UN and UNHCR monitors as well as Iraq’s explosive experts have identified their points of impact.
The Iraqi government has prohibited the entry of protective helmets and vest, cloth, sand bags, plant seeds, trees taller than 150 cm and even mobile phones into Liberty, contending that the entry of such items is contrary to that country’s security and sovereignty. Surprisingly, the entry and the launching of 2m-long missiles, each weighing 110 kg, and with the explosive power 20 times greater than 107mm missiles, in the proximity of Baghdad International Airport are not contrary to Iraq’s sovereignty and Maliki’s government has remained silent and refused to protest or take any action in this regard.
Abbas Namvar, Mohammad-javad Saleh-tehrani and Mahmoud Borna-far, three members of the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) were killed in the 26 December attack on Camp Liberty.
Maliki’s Interior Ministry denies Camp Liberty is hit, rejects casualties
Iraq’s Ministry of Interior that is under the control of Maliki himself, today (Friday, December 27), in an ignominious lie denied Camp Liberty has been targeted. Al-Madi Press wrote: the Interior Ministry “denied that the Katyusha rockets that were fired at Baghdad International Airport targeted Iranian dissidents”.
In a hideous lie that only mullahs ruling Iran are expert at, the interior ministry spokesman said, “these rockets landed in a deserted area near the airport, there were no casualties and investigation for determining the party that has been the target is ongoing.”
These absurd falsifications are while last night Associated Press reporting from Baghdad and quoting a “security official” emphasized that Camp Liberty has been attacked by rockets and Reuters similarly wrote, “Police sources confirmed the camp had been targeted by mortars and said four wounded Iranians had been transported to a hospital in western Baghdad.”
These absurd statements are made while expert teams from Iraq’s interior ministry and army are aware of details of this attack that left three dead and 71 injured and know the impact locations of the rockets inside Camp Liberty.
So far 36 points of missile impact have been identified at Camp Liberty, which has an area of 0.5km2. Four 107mm missiles have not exploded with the ever-present danger of detonation. A number of the missiles are 280mm surface-to-surface missiles, whose destructive power is 20 times greater than the 107mm rockets. Three of eight such missiles hit Liberty and the UN and UNHCR monitors as well as Iraq’s explosive experts have identified their points of impact.
UNHCR Press Release:
The UN refugee agency strongly condemns last night’s attack on the Baghdad International Airport Zone, during which a number of rockets landed on Camp Hurriya – reportedly killing three and injuring many more in the camp. At least four camp residents who sustained serious injuries were reportedly rushed to hospitals in Baghdad by the Iraqi authorities.
Camp Hurriya has already been hit on multiple occasions. Camp New Iraq (formerly Ashraf), where residents were previously staying, was also target of an attack in the past. UNHCR has consistently deplored such unacceptable attacks.
UNHCR remains deeply concerned for the safety of the residents of Camp Hurriya and is calling on the government of Iraq to urgently scale up security measures in the camp to ensure the safety and security of its residents. We are also urging the government to launch a full scale independent investigation into all the incidents.
UNHCR urgently reiterates the need to find solutions for the camp’s residents, and is appealing to countries to act urgently on 1,400 cases from Camp Hurriya that have already been submitted for relocation. Since 2011, UNHCR, together with UNAMI, has been engaged in an effort to find relocation opportunities outside Iraq for some 3,200 residents of the Camp. So far, the international community has managed to secure the relocation to third countries of 311 residents, clearly demonstrating that more relocation places are urgently needed.
Maliki’s notorious operative takes responsibility for attack on Camp Liberty
Hours after the missile attack on Camp Liberty, which has left three residents killed and more than 50 others wounded so far, Watheq al-Battat, a notorious terrorist, who is merely a functionary of [Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri] al-Maliki, accepted responsibility for this assault.
Using the title of “commander of the Al-Mukhtar Army”, he told Reuters news agency that “his group had fired 20 Katyusha rockets and mortar rounds at the camp”.
This is not the first time that Maliki is using Battat’s name to cover up his own crimes. On February 13, 2013, four days after the first missile attack on Camp Liberty, the Iranian Resistance issued a statement which said, “Because it is common knowledge that Kata’eb Hezbollah is a terrorist brainchild of the clerical regime acting in concert with Maliki’s office, the clerical regime and the Iraqi government in an attempt to cover their tracks resorted to a new ploy by fabricating a new self-styled group named ‘Jaish al-Mukhtar’ in a bid to cleanse their hands tainted in this crime…. ‘Jaish al-Mukhtar’ is another name for ‘Kata’eb Hezbollah’, which continues to carry out the dirty and bloody conspiracies of Ali Khamenei and Maliki.”
According to Iraqi media, Jaish al-Mukhtar declared its founding only five days before the first missile attack on Camp Liberty on February 9, 2013. It boasted, “The Mukhtar Army is supportive of the central government in fighting corruption and corruptors as well as in confronting terrorist groups such as Al-Qaeda and the Free Army.” Several hours later, the group staged a military parade at the Sana’a Club in Baghdad, where the Iraqi Amy and Police were giving it protection.
According to Arab-language media such as Al-Hayat, As-Sharq al-Awsat and Ilaf, Mukhtar is a symbolic reference to Maliki. On February 11, 2013, the Saudi Daily As-Sharq al-Awsat wrote, “The Mukhtar Army has been formed in support of the Iraqi government to establish security control. Groups affiliated to Maliki describe him as ‘Mukhtar of the Age.’”
On July 8, 2013, Iraq’s Al-Tagheer television broadcast a video in which Battat was saying, “We must save the Iraqi government and its institutions and abide by orders.” He emphasized, “His party is supporting the government with all its power because it has facilitated their passage to Syria.”
Missiles used in attack on Camp Liberty had 10 times the explosive power of 107mm rockets
In addition to dozens of 107mm rockets, bolstered with additional charges, powerful missiles, with an explosive power at least 10 times greater than 107mm rockets, were launched at Camp Liberty last night.
The destructive power of this type of missiles, built especially for these types of attacks, was such that it totally shattered the 3.5m-tall T-walls. For this reason, the fire, demolition and destruction caused in last night missile attack were far greater than the previous attacks on Liberty in which 107mm rockets were used. Large quantities of pellets were placed inside the missiles in order to increase the number of casualties.
Transporting these missiles in a completely secured military zone, adjacent to Baghdad International Airport, is impossible without full cooperation among different security organs which are coordinated by the Prime Minister’s Office.
The United Nations has condemned a rocket attack on Camp Liberty, housing members of Iranian opposition the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), Associated Press reported.
In a statement on Friday, the U.N. envoy to Iraq Nickolay Mladenov says a number of residents were killed and injured, but gave no number.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MtL1RJS8gLw
Abbas Namvar has been identified as the third resident of Camp Liberty killed in the fourth missile attack on the Camp earlier this evening.
As of midnight local time, three residents, killed when dozens of missiles hit Camp Liberty have been identified.
As of this hour, more than 50 have been reported injured.
Read: Press Release by Struan Stevenson MEP
Read: Press Release by British Parliamentary Committee for Iran Freedom
Many trailers and facilities of Camp Liberty destroyed in fourth missile attack
A large number of trailers and facilities at Camp Liberty were destroyed as the result of the fourth attack with dozens of different types of missiles at 9:15 pm local time tonight.
Mohammad Javad Saleh Tehrani is one of the victims of this missile attack and another martyr has not yet been identified due to the severity of his wounds. A number of those wounded are in critical condition.
By this criminal attack, [Iraqi Prime Minister] Nuri al-Maliki and [the Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader] Ali Khamenei are attempting to cover up the disgrace over the September 1st execution-style massacre at Camp Ashraf. The missile attack on Camp Liberty came after the trip to Tehran by Maliki and his security officials.
Photo of an Iranian dissident killed during the December 26, 2013 attack on Camp Liberty in Iraq:
Two martyred during the December 26, 2013 missile attack on Camp Liberty, a number of wounded in critical condition
As of 10:00 pm Baghdad ocal time, two martyred during the missile attack on Camp Liberty.
At 9:15 pm local time, on 26 December 2013, Camp Liberty was attacked with dozens of missiles of different types. The attack occurs after Nuri al-Maliki’s trip to Tehran and is payback to the religious fascism ruling Iran to enlist the mullahs’ support for Maliki’s third term as Prime Minister.
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Camp Liberty attacked:
At 21:15 local time, Camp Liberty was targeted by dozens of missiles of different types. The number of those slain and wounded will be announced subsequently.
This is the fourth missile attack on Iranian dissidents in Camp Liberty (Iraq) in 2013, while the Iraqi government has not yet delivered the bodies of those massacred during the September 1, 2013 attack on Camp Ashraf, to Liberty residents for burial.
